Re-Evaluating Goals

Happy Friday!  It's especially happy for me as I am off.  I still have some work to do but I get to do it from the comfort of my own home.  WOOHOO!

I wish I was able to report some good news on the injury front but things are still the same as they were last week.   I was hopeful that my ART and acupuncture appointment on Monday would have sorted things out once and for all but it did not.  I'm able to ride my bike so that's at least a positive but I am still having a hard time running.  I went out this morning and managed 3x5 minutes but it was not pain free.  I'm still experiencing nerve pain in my upper hamstring area.   I feel it through the entire gait cycle, which makes me think it's coming from my glut.

I am beyond frustrated.   This has proven to be a bit of a puzzle for my physio and my chiro.  I've tried to remain positive about everything but I think it's time for me to re-evaluate my original goal.  My goal this year was to crack the top 5 in my age group at Tremblant.  I honestly felt like I was on track to do that before this happened.   Everything was coming together and I felt really strong.  Now I can't even run 5km.  Suffice to say, I've thrown in the towel on that goal.  Even if I miraculously get better in the next week, I don't have enough time to get the work I need to do in.  And really, I'm in no condition to push myself either.

I'm really bummed right now.  I almost feel like giving up completely - like if I'm not going to be able to chase my original goal, then I don't want to even bother.  But I know that's silly.  I've paid for a race and if I'm able, I want to do it, regardless of how fast or slow it may be.   I have a bunch of friends racing and G will also be racing so from that perspective I know it will be a fun day.  It's really hard for me to race with no expectations when my entire mindset from the beginning of the year was focused solely on working towards this goal.  Shifting gears isn't something I'm very good at.  It takes me a little while to adjust.

I haven't signed up for any other races this summer.  I think if I make it through Tremblant, that will probably be it for me until I can figure out what is causing all of this.  There are obviously biomechnical and strength issues at play, I just have to figure out what they are.

On the plus side, I managed to ride my bike yesterday.  Yes, I felt like I hadn't ridden in a week (it was almost a week) but, it was amazing to be outside watching the sun come up.

I am going to ride tomorrow as well and see how that goes.   I need to remind myself that the bike is the most important part right now.  If I can't do that, then I really need to think about not racing at all and I'm not ready to do that just yet.  So.  I'll work on the cycling and see how that goes.  It's going to be a spectacular weekend so I plan on getting out and enjoying every minute of it.

Have you ever given up on a goal due to injury?  How did you deal with it?

#OperationTop5 - Week 19: Hanging on by a Thread

What a week.  I thought I was off the emotional roller coaster but apparently not.  I'm in a much better head space than I was last week but I still think I have a ways to go.   This week started off ok then went downhill but quickly got better.

The body really is an amazing thing.  This time last week I was still uncertain as to whether or not I'd be able to do anything other than swim.  Even early this week I wasn't sure how things were going to go.   I saw my chiro / ART guy on Tuesday morning and did ART on my left IT band and my glut med as well as my hamstring and adductor magnus.   That seemed to help and I felt a lot better.  I managed a 40 minute ride on Wednesday morning, totally pain free.  Thursday was the day I was waiting for though.  That was the day I was scheduled to go back to see Lauren.  I was hoping I'd get the ok to start running again.  Thursday morning I felt so good that I actually went outside and rode.   I saw Lauren that morning and she did a bunch of tests and did some work on my left hip flexor as it was tight and then she gave me the green light to ease back into running.  So that night I laced up my shoes and hit the trails.  It was awful.  Absolutely awful.  The nerve pain I had been feeling was still there.  I had somewhat limited range of motion as well which of course compromised my gait.  I ran / walked 4.2km and even though I was smiling for the first bit of the run, by the time I got home, I was in tears.  I was ready to throw in the towel.  As soon as I got in I called my Chiro's office and managed to get his last opening for the next day.  I emailed him that night to give him an update and suggested that perhaps it might be time to do some acupuncture.

I swam on Friday morning and that seemed to loosen up my legs but I still didn't feel great.  I went in to see Peter and he brought out the big guns.  He did some more ART but moved my leg differently than previous times.  He then did some acupuncture, which was quite uncomfortable.  You know things are tight when just the needles going in hurt, never mind when the stim is added.  Holy moly.  My hip and hamstring were throbbing and I was so achey afterwards.   I think that, combined with everything from this past week took a toll on me because I was in bed asleep before 9:00 pm on Friday night.  I slept almost straight through until 7:00 am  Yup.  I was spent.  But I clearly needed it.  I got up Saturday morning feeling like a new woman.  The tightness in my hip was GONE and my hamstring and adductor felt a lot better.  

Saturday I had opted to join the folks at Watts Up for an inside ride.  I couldn't face sitting upstairs on the computrainer in the bedroom, watching a TV that I couldn't really hear.  No thank you.  Instead I hung out with some friends I haven't seen in a while, had a few laughs and worked up a really good sweat.  A pain free sweat I might add.  I set myself a goal of 2 hours.  I told myself if I had any pain or discomfort (other than muscle fatigue) I would get off the bike.  Amazingly I made it through the ride.  I actually felt really good.  I was pretty sure my legs would feel it later in the day.   But I left feeling much better about my chances of getting to the start line in 6 weeks.  I'm not sure I'll be able to run, but we'll see.  The main goal is to be able to ride my bike.  If I can't ride, I can't race so I'm crossing my fingers that I'm on the up and up in that regards.

This weekend was a busy one.   We had orders from our contractor to pick our bathroom tiles, paint and toilet for the bathroom as well as a lighting fixture.  So there was a LOT of car time.   But, we've picked out and purchased everything now.  I don't think we'll need to make another trip or another decision.  I hope, ha ha.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together.  I love everything we've chosen.

Progress!  The walls are up!

Our flooring kinda looks like driftwood!  Big rectangular white tiles for the shower & a dark grey floor.

We were told this would take 6 weeks but I think it's going to be done sooner than that.  Which is great because I can't take the mess in the house, ha ha.  I'm dying to get things back into the basement.

Looking back on this week, I can't be upset with the way things went, other than my run on Thursday.  I am getting a little impatient but I really did a number on myself so it's going to take a while for me to get back to 100%.  I know I don't really have a lot of time but I can't worry about that.  My coach isn't worried.  She says that all I really need is 3-4 weeks of really focused hard work and I'll be totally fine.  Which is great, because I only have 6 weeks left, 2 of which will be taper weeks.  So, here's hoping I can make good use of the 4 weeks I have left.

Once again I'm linking up with Holly at HoHoRuns and Tricia at Mississippi Piddlin for their weekly wrap.

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  OFF - Chiro appointment and VERY long day at work

Wednesday:  40 minute ride followed by a 2500m swim

Thursday:  25km ride outside in the early a.m..  I was so excited,  I wore my inappropriate socks - they summed up how I was feeling.  Pardon the language, and the drywall dust that is all over my floor!  

P.M.  I tried to go for a run.  Like I said, it sucked.  But I was happy to be out so of course I was smiling.

Friday:  2400m swim

Saturday:  2 hour indoor ride on the Mont Tremblant Course, followed by ALL THE SHOPPING.

Sunday:  3100m swim, followed by another test run.  Lauren told me to run / walk so I did a 5 minute warm up walk and then ran 5 minutes, walked 1 minute x 3.  I covered just over 4km.  I am happy to report that my range of motion was much better.  There is still some stubborn tightness hanging around my hamstring insertion point but I think with a few more acupuncture treatments, I hope I'm good to go!

Total time:  7h 30 minutes.  Not too shabby!

I'm looking forward to a 4 day work week this week - it's going to be busy but it will make it go by that much faster.   Maybe I'll even finish one of my many drafted blog posts!  Ha.

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!  Don't forget to check out the Weekly Wrap Link Up!  

#OperationTop5 Week 18: The Roller Coaster Ride

It's amazing what a difference a week can make.   On Monday I was thinking that my season was over and that I wouldn't be able to do anything except swim for the next few months.  I left my appointment with Lauren in tears because I was so uncertain.  She reassured me that I would be fine but I went down that dark hole of self pity.  By Wednesday I was starting to feel better about things, especially after my Osteopath appointment.  My back had stopped bothering me and the sciatic pain I was experiencing was gone.  I was still having some weird hamstring pain but after I visited my chiro on Friday, he did a full assessment of me, tested me for any disc issues (there were none) did some ART on my cranky hamstring and adductor and told me I would be fine.  Those words were music to my ears.  Especially because I was actually starting to FEEL fine.

Since I had so much free time on my hands this past week,  I took the time to take care of myself.  Lauren said it was important to bring my stress levels down so every night I'd have a nice hot bubble bath with some lavender epsom salts and I'd read.  Needless to say I slept like a baby every night this week.  I really needed that.  I also started using the Headspace app.  I've wanted to try meditation for a while and I had heard a lot of great things about Headspace so when I heard they were conducting a month long experiment in exchange for a years free subscription, I thought, why not, let's give it a go.  I've only been using it for a few days now so I can't really report back on anything just yet, but I will post a review in about a months time.

I also went and had coffee with a  friend of mine who had some serious back issues.  I had reached out to her earlier in the week to pick her brain about what worked for her and we made plans to get together.  I hadn't seen her in ages so it was really nice to sit down and catch up.  No Saturday long ride also meant I had time to do some shopping.   I hit up Sherway Gardens bright and early before it got busy and went to Lush to get more bath goodies.  I wanted to get out of the house because our contractor had arrived at 7:00 am to start working in the basement.  He's at our place 7 days a week working away in the basement.   Which is awesome but it makes for a very noisy home.  Thankfully he'd given us a few tasks to deal with this weekend.  We had to go and pick out flooring for the basement as well as a vanity and mirror for the bathroom so that got us out of the house and away from the noise.  He's made pretty amazing progress in a week though!

Sunday I was able to get on the bike to test things out.  While I didn't feel 100% - my back was still a bit tight, I didn't have any hamstring pain so that was good.  I managed 45 minutes on the trainer and probably could have ridden longer but I had to get ready for swimming.  Sunday was a pretty low key day.  We did some grocery shopping and then I did some meal prep in the afternoon in between dealing with our contractors.   All in all a nice relaxed Sunday, other than the banging around in the basement.

So, I do feel much better about things now than I did this time last week, however, I don't know that I'm out of the woods just yet.  I'm still very tight through my back, gluts and hips and I don't feel like I'm in alignment.  I feel like my pelvis is slightly twisted which could explain the tightness and slight tingling I've been feeling on and off.  I did a fair bit of mobility work after my swim on Sunday and that seemed to provide some relief.   So here's hoping things are moving in the right direction.

It was a quiet week workout wise but I still got my swims in and a lovely morning walk so I'm linking up with the lovely Holly at Hoho Runs and Tricia and Mississippi Piddlin for their Weekly Wrap.

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  OFF

Wednesday:  2300m swim.  I got moved up to a faster lane and I just about died.

Thursday:  4.5km walk.  I decided it was time to stop moping and start moving.

Friday:  2600m swim

Saturday:  OFF

Sunday:  45 minute bike ride + 3500m swim

Total time:  4h 5 minutes

I feel like I've kind of been on a taper.  I guess that's not a bad way to look at it but it's not like I'm going to be jumping back into crazy workouts either.  My coach said she only wants me doing easy zone 1-2 bike workouts and I can't run until I get the a-ok from Lauren.  So hopefully this week I can focus on cycling and then next week I can get back into running.  I've got 7 weeks left until race day.  And really only about 5 weeks of solid training time before I have to start to taper.  Here's hoping I make it through that in one piece.  At this point, I just want to get to the start line healthy.  That's my number one goal.

How was your week?  How do you keep yourself from going down that "woe is me" path when you're injured?

#OperationTop5 Week 13 - First Race of the Season!

Happy Monday!

I had every intention of writing this post yesterday but my weekend got away from me.  As did much of this week.  If life continues to be this crazy, I may have to look at taking a break from the blog for a while.  But we shall see.

This past week was pretty low key in terms of workouts.  I put in a huge amount of work the week before and I really needed to recover so I didn't have anything on the schedule until Wednesday.  I took full advantage of the no workouts and got as much sleep as possible.  My body needed it.  I slept really well almost every night last week.  No middle of the night wake ups.  It was solid, uninterrupted sleep.  SO good.  Wednesday I went back to my Masters swim and barely made 2100m.  It was pretty sucky.  I felt sluggish and slow.  I worked on my new stroke but that tired me out quite quickly so I had to really break it down and focus on ONE element (reaching forward).  I was pretty tired when I got out of the pool and I think I was in bed asleep by 9:00 pm that night, ha ha.  I had a brick scheduled for Thursday and I opted to do it in the morning.  I got on the bike and did my 60 minutes with 30 minutes at 80% of my FTP.  I'm not going to lie,  It was hard.  My legs still felt pretty heavy and it took them a while to warm up.  I had to work really hard to stay at that 80%. 

My Garmin has a feature called "Recovery advisor" and I do believe it uses the data from your heart rate / power to determine how long it will take you to recover from a workout.  It usually beeps about 10 minutes into a workout to alert you.  During my ride it beeped and it said "Recovery / Good".   Sometimes when it beeps good, I have to wonder what metrics it's measuring because there are times when it says good and I certainly don't feel it.  This ride was one of those times.  When I laced up my shoes to go out for my run, I started my watch in run mode and took off.  I actually felt really good on the run.  My heart rate felt a tiny bit high but not too bad.  10 minutes into my run, my Garmin beeps again and I look at my recovery advisor.  It says "Fair".  Ha.  Ok.  Clearly I wasn't recovered just yet.  Luckily I only had to run 20 minutes so it wasn't too taxing.  After uploading that workout in Training Peaks, I was given the option to skip my masters swim on Friday if I wanted to.  So I did.  I had a 2h 30 minute ride on the schedule for Saturday and my coach had said I could skip that too if I wanted to.  It was all about being healthy and fresh for Sunday.  I opted to ride 45 minutes just to spin my legs out.  That was about all I felt like doing.  After riding outside every day, being back inside on the trainer is horrible.   We had a belated Easter dinner at my parents in Guelph so we headed out there around 2:30.   We didn't plan on staying too late as I had to be up early and there happened to be a snow storm that rolled in.  Thank you Mother Nature.  We got dumped on again last night as well.  Seriously, it's APRIL.  Ugh.  Can I go back to Florida please????

Anyway, yesterday was my first race of 2016.  After 2 DNS, it was nice to finally get a race under my belt.  I did Around the Bay 30km as part of a two team relay.  What a blast.  There will be a race report later on this week but in short, it was EXACTLY what I needed.  I held a good solid pace, even on the hills.  My knees didn't hurt and I felt strong the entire time.  After everything I've been through with this injury nonsense, I was uncertain of what I'd be capable of, especially coming off of the massive week of training the week before.   Having the race I had, gave me a huge confidence boost.  So much so that I signed up for the Mississauga Half Marathon on May 1st.  I've done the 10km twice and the marathon once so I figure it's time to do the half!  And I have a bunch of friends racing as well as two of my athletes.  So it should be a blast for sure.

With all that, this is how my week actually went down - I'm linking up with Holly (HoHoRuns) and Tricia (Mississipi Piddlin) for their weekly wrap (a day late but hey, better late than never!)

Monday:  OFF
Tuesday:  OFF
Wednesday:  2100m swim
Thursday:  60 minute ride, 20 minute run

Testing out the remote control app on my phone for the GoPro - nice shot of the Pain Cave!

Friday: OFF
Saturday:  45 minute ride
Sunday: 15km race

Total time:  4h 8 minutes.  

I'm 99.9% sure I will not see a week this easy until my taper week for Tremblant.  My coach just updated my training plan for the next three weeks and it's massive and I have to admit, I'm excited.  I must be crazy but I can't wait to start tackling some bigger distances and some solid running mileage! 

#Operation Top 5 Weeks 11 & 12: Playing Catch Up + Training Camp

Hellooooooooo!

I'm BA-ACK!

I had every intention of blogging while we were away last week but it never happened.  I needed to take some time away from my computer.  The week leading up to our trip was one of the most stressful weeks I've had in a very long time.  I was mentally exhausted by the time I walked out the door on Friday night.  I didn't "catch up" on my rest until Monday.  Our flight out on Saturday was at 6:15 am which meant that I only got about 5 hours sleep.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The week leading up to our trip was a pretty easy week for me workout wise.  My coach wanted me to go into training camp rested.  Which I wasn't really, given the week of work I had.  I only had 4 hours and 20 minutes of workouts.  Had I done the Olympic race I signed up for, I would have been closer to 7 hours but I opted not to race.  I was feeling so worn out and my head wasn't even remotely in the game.  I just wanted to sleep.  I don't like to go into races feeling stressed or tired so as much I think that would have been a good benchmark race for me, I also didn't want to stress my body even further by pushing myself.  If it was a sprint race I probably would have done it as it would have been less than 1h 45 minutes but an Olympic distance race probably would have put me at 2h 40 minutes or so of going hard.  Given that I had a full week of training ahead of me that I wanted to feel good for, I opted to skip it and watch G instead.

When I got up race morning to pouring rain, I was REALLY happy with my decision.  The sun ended up coming out on the run, which made it smoking hot on the run course.  I certainly wasn't ready for that heat!  It was nice to spectate in though, ha ha.

After the race, the camp kicked off with an easy ride out to a town called Winter Garden.  It was beautiful and it had a local brewery so of course G and I made a mental note to go back there later on in the week and check it out.   The ride was pancake flat and we rode to this great little coffee shop to chat and get to know everyone.  We rode back nice and easy with a few sprints thrown in for those of us that were feeling energetic and then we regrouped for dinner at Sheri's house (the other coach who runs the camp).  G and I were staying at the Marriott nearby but ended up moving to a beautiful townhouse owned by one of Sheri's friends that was just around the corner from Sheri.  We had more room than we needed and a full kitchen.  It was perfect.

G and I taking a break in Winter Garden

 Monday was our first big day.   It started with stroke analysis in a lovely outdoor pool.  Unfortunately the temperature had dropped the night before due to the rain so it was quite chilly.  Still warmer than Toronto but chilly none the less.  We were in the water for a couple of hours and then it was on to the bike.  We were going to be riding on the Van Fleet Trail.  It was totally flat.  We had some rollers at the start but once we got on the trail it was pancake flat.  Paolina took myself, G and Dierdre (another one of her athletes) ahead of the group and told us we were going to be doing a tempo set.  So we essentially pace lined like you see in the team time trial at the Tour de France.  We'd take turns going super hard at the front for a couple of minutes each and then pull off and go to the back of the Pain Train.  We got up to 46 kph!  It was insane.

Deirdre and Paolina before the Pain Train started

I worked really hard for that section of the ride.  Thankfully the ride back was easy.  We even stopped to check out some gators.  Total mileage for the day was just over 100km on the bike.  Not a bad way to start off my week!

Tuesday was a 12km trail run in the morning followed by an easy ride to a bakery in the afternoon.  The temperature had started to rise and I was overdressed for the run.   It was pretty awesome and I was surprised at how good my legs felt after the previous days ride.

Wednesday we went out to the National Training Centre for more swim stroke work and an actual workout.  It was a 25 yard pool set up but I didn't care.  It was amazing to be outside in the sunshine.  I wore my Garmin but kept forgetting to turn it on so I think we ended up doing almost 4000m vs. the 2450m that it actually counted.  We were in the water for a very long time.  And of course I had to test out the underwater capabilities of my new toy.  After the swim, we did a quick upper body workout at the gym with Paolina.

Yup.  It's waterproof!

After the swim we headed out to the Clermont Hills.  By this point it was scorching hot.  We did loops of Buckhorn Road, which is a road filled with rollers and a couple of good steep climbs.  Then we circled around and climbed Sugarloaf Mountain Road.  By that point my legs were toast.  I squeaked up that hill.   We took the easy way back and I was very happy to be off my bike.  63km done that day. 

The next day (Thursday) was our long run of the week.  We were headed to the Orange Grove clay trail.  It was also a really early start (7:00 am).  The plan was to run 16km.  That would be my longest run this year.  I wasn't sure how my legs would feel given the beating they had been subjected to the day before but that's what my Zoot recovery tights + Vega recovery accelerator were for!  I slept in my recovery tights until about 3 am and then got up to take them off.  I swear they made a huge difference.

16km of this.  Plus some rollers for good measure.

Nothing beats running with the sunrise

Spectators

I ran that 16km at a very comfortable pace.  I had no knee pain except for a few tweaks in the latter km's when I was running down hill.  My legs never felt tired or sore.  I was over the moon happy when I finished. I was even able to pick it up over the last km.   That was the best run I've had in ages.  I was expecting to be sore and tired but as the week progressed I started to feel better and stronger.  I'm chalking it up to not sitting all day.  I'm convinced the more you stand and move, the better you feel.

After the run we headed back home for a second breakfast and then made our way over to Lake Minneola to practice our open water swimming.  Both Sheri and Paolina gave me some instruction on what they wanted to see me change.  My body position is good as is my kick but my upper body isn't rolling and I'm very "delicate" when I enter the water.  I worked on my stroke when we were at the NTC and practiced the things they wanted me to practice when we were in open water.  This new technique has me using my shoulders way more.  I was so tired after swimming 50m like that, that I had to stop and take a break.  It's going to take me a while to get used to swimming this way and I'm definitely going to have to work on my shoulder strength.  I was actually a bit sore the next day.

Friday was our hardest day yet.  It was our brick day.  I thought it would be a long ride followed by a long run but boy was I mistaken.  We went to Lake Louisa State Park and practiced our transitions.  We set up our bikes and everything else we'd need to go from swim to bike to run.  We weren't going to actually swim, but we did practice running in bare feet to our bikes.  The park had a 13.5km beautifully paved loop and the plan was to ride that 3-4 times, with a 2km run after each loop.  Paolina had told me to build into it and that my 3rd lap should be the hardest.  We did a warm up lap to check out the course and then we were off.   I rode the first lap pretty hard.  Probably a bit too hard.  I came back in "racked" my bike, threw on my shoes and started running.  My knees were killing me, which was not good.  I ran on the trail which seemed to aggravate them a bit more so I quickly made my way out to the pavement where they seemed to settle down.  

Then I had a couple of minutes rest and it was back onto the bike.  I told Paolina that I had gone too hard on that first lap so I cruised the second lap.  I pushed on the flats and downhills but spun easy up the climbs.  I came back in and then went out on my second run.  I ran with Paolina and we were cranking out a pretty good pace.  I actually ran 2.6km for that brick.  We ran back, and I took another 2 minute break and then Paolina said it was go time.  This was going to be my hardest lap.  I hopped on my bike, and started chasing her.  Holy crap.  I was able to hang on to her until we got to any sort of incline and then I slowed down.  My legs and lungs were screaming at me.  I just don't have the leg strength to power up hills like she does.  I got into "transition" and almost barfed.  I racked my bike and pulled on my shoes.  I tried to pick up the pace but my legs were toast.  My Garmin will beep and tell me what my recovery is like and part way through my 2km run it beeped to tell me my recovery had gone from "Good" to "Fair".  Ha.  No kidding.  I was toast.  That last 2km run was the slowest of the day for me.  But I didn't care.  I had just done a triple brick.  I've never done anything like that before in my life.  It was hard.  It hurt.  But it was also AWESOME.  I've been told I'll be getting a few more workouts like that over the coming months.  Bring it on I say!

After that we went back to Sheri's and did about 40 minutes of yoga.  I really needed that.  We then went back home, showered refueled and chilled out before heading out to dinner with the group.  Some people were heading home early the next day so we thought it would be nice to have dinner together before people left.

Saturday was the last day of official camp activities and it started with a free 5km Park Run race.  They hold this free race every Saturday morning in Waterfront Park.  Paolina and I talked game plan the night before.  I wasn't sure what I'd be capable of since I've done ZERO speed work this year and I had just put quite the beatdown on my legs.  I figured somewhere between 21-22 minutes would be ideal.  She told me not to start out too fast but to build into it.

G and I ran to the park, it was roughly 2km from the condo so I had a nice little warm up run.  My knees were very sore when I started running.  They felt like they weren't tracking properly.  But once I got going, they were totally fine.  It was hot and muggy even at 7:30 am.  Thankfully it was also overcast.  There was a decent crowd of people ranging in age.  We all lined up and listened to announcements, had a round of applause for the volunteers and waited for the MC to yell GO.  Then we were off.  Of course I took off like a shot and had to dodge people because I didn't seed myself correctly.   My legs didn't fresh but they didn't feel awful either.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I pushed it through that first km and when my Garmin beeped I saw 4:09/km.  Oops.  That was too fast.  I tried to settle into a more sustainable pace.   I chugged along trying to keep the leaders in my sight.  One guy was pulling away from the group really quickly.  At the 2km mark the race had strung out.  I was the lead female and had no clue how close the second place woman was.  My 2nd km was 4:10.  Still too fast.  I figured I'd pay for that towards the end of the race.  We turned around and the first thing I noticed was the wind.  It was in my face.  That slowed me down a fair bit.  I really struggled running into it.  We were also running slightly uphill and I felt that.  My 3rd and 4th km were 4:17 and 4:19.  Ouch.  We ran out to another turn around so I knew I'd have the wind at my back on the way back in.  My goal was to pick it up over the last km.  I started reeling the guy in front of me in.  Had we had another 500m, I may have caught him but he rolled across the line about 5 seconds in front of me.  I ran down the chute and heard them call out 21:16.   After everything I put my body through that week and my lack of speed work, I was really happy with that time.

We walked back to our condo and got ourselves ready for our "recovery ride".  We were heading back to Winter Garden for a nice easy ride to spin out our legs and stop for a coffee and brunch.  The sun had started to come out and it was nice and warm.  It was the perfect morning for a ride.  We cruised along the bike path at a nice clip.  G and I had brunch and a cappuccino while the rest of the crew went out and checked out the local market.  We sat outside for an hour or so and then got on our bikes and rode back.  An easy 40km.  It was perfect.  

When we got back, G and I packed up our bikes, did some laundry and then packed up most of our stuff.  We were going to Sheri's for dinner so we grabbed all the leftovers from the fridge and brought them to her place.  The last supper was a mish mash of everyone's left overs.  It was pretty darn delicious.

Sunday was our day to explore so we slept in (finally!) then packed up the truck and hit the road.  We drove around the area, checking out small towns, we went to Daytona Beach and then by Cape Canaveral before heading to the airport.  It was a lovely way to end our "holiday".

I am amazed that my body withstood the volume that it did.  I felt better as the days went on.  This trip was exactly what I needed, mentally & physically.    I logged almost 20 hours of training.  This is how it broke out:

Swim:  5800m
Bike:  342km
Run:  41.6km

Lots of benchmarks for me in terms of mileage.  Longest run this year as well as longest ride (so far) this year.  I was on the fence about racing the Around the Bay Relay I had signed up for but now, I'm 100% in.  Bring it on.

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter! 

#OperationTop5: Week 10: FTP Test and A Week from Hell

I'm dreading tomorrow.  Absolutely dreading it.  Why?  Because I know what this coming week is going to be like.  This past week was B-R-U-T-A-L it was so busy.   I haven't been this busy at work in a very long time.  I had two shoots happening on the same day, plus 3 others that are happening over the next 2 weeks.  To top it all off, we're heading to Florida on the 19th.  This always happens whenever I go away.  Especially if I'm going away for a race.  It's like the Universe wants to wear me down.  The older I get the more stress really takes a toll on me.   Suffice to say by the time Friday hit, I was done.  Mentally and physically exhausted.  I had my delayed FTP test on Saturday morning.   I slept fairly well until about 4 am when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep due to G's snoring.  I got up and went to the spare bedroom and fell back asleep for a couple of hours.  I had set my alarm for 6:15 as the plan was to get on the bike for 7:00 am so I could get my ride done and we could go outside for a recovery ride since it was supposed to be really nice.

I made my way to the Pain Cave, got on the bike and did my warm up.  My legs didn't feel great.  I had a feeling that was going to be the case.  I made sure I did a really good warm up.  I hit all my high cadence work but I just felt kinda "meh".  I only had 1 hour total with 20 of it being my FTP so at 40 minutes in, it was go time.  I didn't go too hard at the start.  I've done that before and faded so I built into the pace.  Within 5 minutes I was sweating buckets.  This was hard.  I kept glancing at my power meter.  I wasn't seeing numbers that I liked.  I seemed to be barely able to hold 200w.  10 minutes in and my legs were screaming at me.  I put my head down and pedalled as hard as I could manage.  I had sweat pouring down my face and dripping off my arms.  I was gasping for air.  I finally made it to the end and hit lap so I could start my cool down.  I had no idea how that went other than it really hurt.

When I uploaded my workout after, I saw that I was 3 watts less than I was when I did my first test in January (221 vs 218).  I was pretty bummed out.  You don't want to lose power, you want to gain it.   But, as G pointed out, I did my first test on a different bike and I took 10 days off riding the week before and I've been really stressed out so it stands to reason that things will be different.   And, it's only 3 watts.  I'm sure my next test will be different.   Especially after a week of training camp.

This morning our swim was cancelled due to high chlorine levels in the pool.  So, I lounged around for a bit and then headed out for my run.   I had 1 hour on the schedule, which would be my longest run this year.  It wasn't pretty but I got it done.  I covered 12km in an hour and it was a bit harder than I would have liked but it was SO windy I had to fight to keep moving forward!  I took my new toy out for a spin as well.  I got a GoPro Hero 4.  It's pretty awesome and fairly easy to use.  It's going to get a lot of use when we're in Florida!

Without further ado,  I'm going to jump right into my week of training.  I'm linking up with Holly (HohoRuns) and Tricia (Mississippi Piddlin) for their Weekly Wrap.  Join in the fun or check out what all the other active ladies have gotten up to this past week!

Looking back at my week, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how it all rolled out.  I actually got almost all of my workouts done.  If the pool hadn't been closed this morning I would have had a nice series of green boxes.  Oh minus my workout with my trainer, which I rescheduled due to my FTP test.

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  50 minutes of strength work in the a.m. and 75 minutes of cycling in the p.m.  All hill climbing.

Wednesday:  2600m swim

Thursday:  9.2km run at stupid o'clock in the morning due to work.

Friday:  2800m swim.  And I finally hit the 1,000,000 meter mark!

Saturday:  Double bike ride day:  1 hour on the trainer in the morning 37km outside in the sunshine in the afternoon.  March 12 in Canada and I'm riding outside in shorts.  I call that WINNING!

Sunday:  12.2km + a nap.

Total time:  8h 11 minutes.  Happy to be back at it!

This time next week, I will be recovering in the Florida sun!  Woohoo!

How was your week of training?  Have you entered my Endurance Tap giveaway yet?  There will be 3 lucky winners!!!

OperationTop5: Week 6 - If It's Not One Thing It's Another

Happy Valentines Day!

I had a lovely laid back day with the hubs.  We swam, met a friend for brunch and then did a bit of shopping.  I treated myself to some of my favourite bath products from Lush.  And of course G got me flowers.   Nice and low key, just the way I like it.

Once again, another week went by and I had every intention of finishing at least ONE of my drafted posts but alas, I did not.  It just didn't happen.  Work was busy, I had a couple of late days and then had to fit workouts in after work.  I don't have a lot of time in the evenings as it stands and when I have to get a workout in, I can forget about doing anything else in the evening.   Such is life.   It's Family Day tomorrow so I have the day off.  We don't have any plans so I am planning on doing some meal prep and I'm going to finish at least 2 blog posts.  That's the goal!

I had an easier week scheduled this week that became even easier because I got an ear infection.  Yup.  An ear infection.  I have sinus problems and this time of year, my ears get very itchy and dry.  So much so that I actually scratch them in the middle of the night when I'm asleep.  Which always wakes me up.  Apparently I ended up scratching my ear canal which ended up getting infected.  It was brutally painful.  I got antibiotics and ear drops but couldn't find my ear plugs so I ended up missing my Wednesday morning swim.  Since hubby was up I opted to switch my Thursday morning gym workout to Wednesday.  It was a good call, as the gym was totally empty.  I had the squat rack all to myself.  Winning!

Once again I'm linking up with Tricia and Holly for their Weekly Wrap.

Monday:  DAY OFF

Tuesday:  4.3km run

Wednesday:  50 minute strength workout

Thursday:  8km run - PAIN FREE!  p.m. - 75 minute bike ride.  Got back on this awesome machine after getting re-fit last weekend.  Oh how I've missed him!

Friday: a.m.:  2400m swim, p.m. 5.85km run.

Saturday:  60 minute strength session, followed by 90 minutes of hard work on trainer.

Sunday:  3300m swim in the a.m. and then a 6.68km run in the p.m.  It was a cold one but absolutely beautiful out.

Total time:  8h and 58 minutes.

I have one more run and then I'm finished my physio rehab run program.  It's been two months of building things back up.  I'm looking forward to being able to run more than 8km!

How was your week?  What did you do for Valentines Day?

OperationTop5 Week 5: Excuse Me Ma'am Your Age is Showing

What. A. Week.  I had so many good intentions of finishing blog posts that I had started but alas, my mind was all over the place this week and I simply couldn't concentrate.  I'd like to say that I was focused on my training but I can't even say that.  Have you ever had one of those weeks where you feel like you're all over the place?  That was this past week for me.  I was alright at the beginning of the week but as the week went on, I got more and more scattered.  So strange.

I had been gearing up for a massive weekend of training but on Wednesday on my run in the pouring rain, I tried to jump a puddle, got a soaker while I was at it and ended up tweaking my adductor muscle a bit.  I didn't notice while I was running but afterwards it felt a bit tight.  Thursday I got up and did all my workouts (weights, run & bike in the evening) and I was fine.  Friday morning I got up to go to the pool.  It was stroke day so we were doing IM.  As soon as I did breastroke, I felt pain in my inner thigh.  Oh oh.  I swam 25m of breast stroke, switched to free and then stupidly tried it again for another 25m.  Nope.  Not happening.  So I swam free and back.  But I was so distraught and worried that I had really done something, that I left practice early, went home, grabbed my shorts and called my chiro guy to see if I could get in to seem him.  I got an appointment at lunch and he poked around a bit.  He said nothing was torn but there was a bit of fluid and a small bump.  He worked around the muscle a bit to release the tension and then gave me some mild acupuncture.  I was told to not run on Saturday but cycling and weights were ok as long as it didn't hurt and I had to ice after.  I had a 90 minute ride and an hour long session with my trainer so when I told my coach what happened, she said no ride, just do weights and rest up for Sunday.  SWEEEEEEET.

Lesson learned - Despite what your brain thinks, you're not a spry 20 year old, just run through the damn puddles.

I took my tri bike to get fit on Saturday and was fully expecting to be there for 2-3 hours.  I was pleasantly surprised when we were done in an hour and 15 minutes.  I am so much more comfortable on it now than I was.  I'm actually looking forward to getting back on that bike.  I'll be bringing it into rotation this week since I'm going to be racing on it at the end of March.   Having more free time on Saturday afternoon meant that I could actually get some food planning / prep in.

Sunday was my big training day.  Ignition Fitness was having their annual training day at Watts Up and since it was so close to my house I figured I'd go.  I had a swim in the morning and then Lauren had wanted me to re-do my Thursday run, which I did after swimming.  That was pretty much perfect.  Then I hopped on my bike and rode pretty darn hard for 2 hours.  Towards the end of the ride I could feel some soreness in my upper hamstring.  Once I got off the bike, it was really tight and sore.  So I got home and iced it and then stretched.  I saw my RMT last night and had a well deserved massage (I missed the Superbowl Halftime show - booo! but it was worth it).  Nothing too deep or painful for a change, just a good flush out of everything.  I feel so much better today.   I'm slowly learning that I can't push things like I used to. 

I'm linking up with Tricia and Holly for this weeks edition of the Weekly Wrap.  I'm a day late but better late than never!

Monday:  3km run

Tuesday:  OFF

Wednesday:  2900m swim + 5.36km run in the pouring rain

Thursday:  45 minute strength session, 7.67km run in a.m. and 1h 15 minute ride in p.m.

Friday:  1400m swim  - got out early because of my adductor

Saturday:  60 minute strength session with my trainer - holy core work.  I'm STILL sore.

Sunday:  2850m swim + 7.5km run in a.m, 2h ride in p.m.  followed by eating ALL. THE. FOOD.

I wish I could have run more this past week, the weather was absolutely amazing.  We broke a temperature record on Wednesday.  It got up to 15 degrees celsius in Toronto.  FIFTEEN!  Those are spring temperatures!  Sadly that is going to change this week.  By the weekend we're supposed to be in a deep freeze.  Guess I better start digging out my longer running socks and heavier tights.   Honestly I can't complain that it's just starting to get cold and it's MID February.  I always find February to be the worst month in terms of weather but this one has been alright so far! 

How was your week?  Did you watch the Superbowl last night?  I watched 5 minutes of it and that was about it.  

#OperationTop5 Week 4: Not as Planned

A training cycle wouldn't be a training cycle if you didn't have at least one week where things didn't go as planned.  This was that week for me.  It started off really well and then just went to hell in a hand basket.  But that's life, right?  Not everything goes to plan and sometimes you just have to wing it.  Or do what you can.  I still had some pretty good workouts so I'm happy about that.   I also had my biggest month EVER in the pool.  This month I racked up 36,850m of swimming in 13 swims.  That's 36.8km in the water.   C-R-A-Z-Y.

This was supposed to be a recovery week and I took that to heart.  I had a few crappy nights of sleep (hello hormones!) plus one late night and that's when things started to go downhill.  Tuesday night I hardly slept, Wednesday night I was out late and once again, I hardly slept.   That's usually a sign that Aunt Flo is on her way.  Thursday I was zonked.  I was tired and incredibly sore from the crazy Electric Yoga class I had taken the night before at the Smart Girl's Sweat Sweatworking Event.  That class reinforced my complete lack of co-ordination, ha ha.  But it was still kinda fun.  Anyway, I was so tired and I felt so crappy that I left work early on Thursday, went home, ran a hot bath and almost fell asleep in the tub.  I was supposed to do a 75 minute bike ride but I had zero desire to get on my bike.  I got out of the tub, had a nap on the couch, then had some soup for dinner, watched a bit of TV with G and was in bed asleep by 9:00 pm.  I finally had a good night sleep and felt human when I got up on Friday morning.

Friday night we hit up 850 Degrees, our favourite pizza place and then went by our friends place for a  drink to celebrate his new job.  It was 11 pm by the time I went to bed.  I actually set my alarm for 7 am because I figured if I didn't I'd sleep in late and then have to rush around to meet my trainer for 9 am.  The rest of the weekend was packed with training, working on my athlete's training plans, meal prep and some well deserved relaxation.

Once again, I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap.  It's a chance to share your week whether it be in workouts or in life.

This is how week 4 of my Operation Top 5 Training went...

Monday:  4.23km run.  3x4 minutes with NO PAIN!  Wahoo!

Tuesday:  OFF

Wednesday:  a.m:  2800m swim.  It was quiet at work so I got in a 5.58km run (4x4 minutes!) mid
afternoon.  p.m. 45 minute Electric Yoga class

Thursday:  45 minutes of strength work.  W.I.P.E.D out.

Friday:  2200m swim

Saturday: 60 minutes of strength work, 2 hours on the bike then a 6.39km run (5x4 minutes)

Made with Super Photo! 

Sunday:  6.9km run up to the pool (6x4 minutes, pain free!) 3250m swim.

Total time:  9h 53 minutes

I was pretty wiped out by the time I got home from the pool.  Not to mention HUNGRY.  Holy smokes.  I'm still trying to get used to fuelling for this increase in training volume.  I've caught myself feeling hungrier sooner so I think I need to increase my protein intake a bit as well as the actual amount of food I'm eating.  It's a fine balance, that's for sure.  I'm patiently waiting for the weight I've put on over the last couple of months to go away.  It has yet to happen.  Oh the joys of getting older.  Boo.

Tomorrow my run plan takes me to 1x 9 minutes of running!  Folks, I'm ALMOST DONE.  I'm starting my last week of this plan.  It will probably take me a week and a half to get through it since I've decreased my runs from 5 a week to 4 a week due to the increase in time for the intervals.  Things are going really well.  I'm staying on top of my niggles - all this glute work I'm doing has definitely made them tighter so I went to see Peter, my chiro on Friday to get some ART work done.  My plan is to see him once a month for a tune up.  I usually only get a massage once a month but I figured the way things are going, I should probably do ART as well.  So that's the plan.

How was your week?  Do you go for regular massage or ART?  

#OperationTop5 Week 3: Almost Up and Running

I can't believe that we are almost at the end of January.  Holy moly.  So far, things have been moving along nicely both with my training and at work.  January can sometimes be totally nuts but this month has been a little quiet.  I've had a good balance of busy and quiet which suits me just fine.  This past week I had two photographers shooting so that kept me busy for a couple of days.  I had two stupid early mornings but sometimes that's a necessity when you're not sure what your day is going to be like.  This weekend was gloriously lazy when you took the workouts out of the equation, ha ha.  I had a nap on the couch on Saturday afternoon and a lovely hot epsom salt bath on Saturday night.  Both necessities for good recovery in my books.  Today we went for brunch with a friend of ours who was in town from Vancouver.  It was nice to hang out and catch up.  Because we were meeting for brunch after our Sunday swim, that meant I had to get my short little rehab run out of the way early.  This made it worth it.

Speaking of my rehab, I should be finished my little rehab plan by the second week of February!  WOOHOO!  If I am pain free, then I should be able to start building up my mileage.  This morning's run was completely pain free.  I think the work with my trainer and all my physio work is starting to pay off.  I don't think I've ever done this much glute work in my life.  I'm going to have buns of steel baby, BUNS. OF.  STEEL!

I spent the rest of Sunday working on training plans and doing a bit of meal prep.  I'm trying to make one or two staples every weekend that I can wrap and freeze.  I'm finding that burgers and burritos are my go to for that.  They don't take too long to make and they're easy to reheat.   I've been focusing a bit more on plant based foods for lunch so my burgers and burritos usually involve beans, sweet potatoes or quinoa.  Pinterest has been a life saver in terms of finding interesting and tasty recipes!

Once again I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap.

Week Three of Operation Top 5 is in the books and it was a good one!  This is how it went dooowwnnnn......

Monday:  5.34km run

Tuesday:  OFF

Wednesday:  5.73km run at stupid o'clock, followed by a 2750m swim.  Not the best idea but if I didn't run before swimming, I wouldn't have run as I was at work late.

Thursday:  75 minute trainer ride in a.m. + 60 minutes of strength work + 6.61 km run in p.m.

Friday:  2800m swim in a.m + 7.45km run in pm.  Under a beautiful full moon no less.

Saturday:  60 minute strength session with my trainer, followed by 2 hours in the Pain Cave on my bike.

No boogers, ha ha!

Sunday:  3.37km run (up to 4 minutes of running - wahoo!) 2700m swim (RECOVERY WEEK IN THE POOL!!  Can you tell I'm excited?!??!) + 30 minutes of upper body and core in the afternoon.

Total time:  11h 43 minutes.   The whole strength work first then bike second really killed me.  But my trainer said it's better for me to do it that way so I'm actually building strength and not having to compromise on the weight I'm lifting because I'm tired.  So that's what I did.  I certainly felt it on the bike as the workout went on.  I had a fair bit of zone 4 work towards the end of my ride that just about killed me.  This week looks to be a little bit easier but we'll see, ha ha.

How was your weekend?  Did you get snowed in?  We haven't had much in the way of snow but it's been chilly, which is fine by me, I just want the snow to stay away.